How AI works

The lessons, in order

1. Lesson 113:59

   How AI writes its answers: one piece at a time

   9 min read · 7 chapters · 5 short clips

   An AI chat app does not work out a whole answer and then show it. It writes one small piece at a time, and a weighted roll of the die picks each piece. This lesson follows one question from Enter to the last word, and shows what that means for your limits, your long chats and the Thinking switch.

   1. Same question, 2 different answers51 s
   2. Autocomplete that has read a library1:15
   3. It reads pieces, not words1:31
   4. Tokens are the currency1:38
   5. A weighted die picks each piece2:04
   6. What "Thinking" is
   7. The 4 things to keep
2. Lesson 210:38

   How AI learns: a guessing game, not a database

   10 min read · 9 chapters · 5 short clips

   An AI model learned by guessing the next word across a vast pile of text, and what it kept is patterns, not pages. This lesson follows that training in order, from the reading and the teaching to the practice and the day the reading stopped, and shows what each step means for the answers you get.

   1. The puzzle: no news from last week, but a pie nobody has baked52 s
   2. It read a library by playing one guessing game1:35
   3. It kept the patterns, not the books1:11
   4. People taught it manners afterwards1:06
   5. Practice with a score taught it to work things out
   6. Its reading stopped on a date1:14
   7. It is not learning from you as you chat
   8. It learned our mistakes too
   9. When to trust the answer